Dome Valley landfill hui at Puatahi Marae
Puatahi Marae hosted an excellent hui on Sunday regarding continued opposition to the proposed Dome Valley Landfill.Ngati Manuhiri and Ngati Whatua are no longer opposing the landfill but many of the smaller Marae and Fight the tip, Save the Dome are resolute in continuing to stop this travesty from occurring. To be fair I'm not sure anyone else in the Kaipara and North Rodney area wants the landfill either.A big thank you to Mikaere Miru and Mina Henare (Tinopai RMU) and the Fight the Tip team ...
July 22, 2025Pre-election period begins
The three month pre-election period during which candidates signs can go up started today.Bit of a blustery Kaipara morning for banging up hoardings but still - never saw anyone melt in the rain......
July 11, 2025Ruawai Volunteer Fire Brigade Honours Night
Pictured L to R: Deputy Mayor Jonathan Larsen, with fellow Gold Star recipients Tim Johnson, Skippy Sheehan and Ant Blundell I had the pleasure of attending the Ruawai Volunteer Fire Brigade Honours Night at the Ruawai-Tokatoka War Memorial Hall. It was great to catch up with familiar faces from Ruawai, Dargaville and further north from my days working in FENZ Region Training in Northland.The main event was the presentation of the 25 year Gold Star medals to no less than three dedicat...
June 29, 2025Kaipara Citizens Awards and Environmental Awards
It was a beautiful day up at the Dargaville Lighthouse Function Centre yesterday to recognise and celebrate the extraordinary contributions of some of our dedicated Kaipara people. Mayor Craig Jepson presented the following awards, and recipients' nominators and families spoke about each recipients contributions to our community.The recipients were -2025 Citizens AwardsExtraordinary service by a newcomer to the districtJacqui O'ConnorNominators: Christine and Robert Pirie Jacqui moved to Mangawh...
June 25, 2025Good news for Kaiwaka safety and connectivity
Pictured L to R - Mayor Craig Jepson, Rachael Williams - KDC Councillor Kaiwaka - Mangawhai Ward, Councillor Ash Nayyar, Jonathan Larsen - for Mayor of Kaipara District, Wharehine Contract Manager Jordan Watson, KDC Project Manager Tim Manning, Wharehine Project Manager Arshad BeigBack in 2020 I approached Hon. Shane Jones who at the time was the Minister for Regional Economic Development overseeing the Provincial Growth Fund.I pitched to him a Kaiwaka Can concept to link up central Kaiwaka and ...
June 24, 2025Warkworth to Te Hana Motorway getting closer
Great news for Kaipara District today with an announcement that the expressions of interest stage of the procurement works for the Warkworth to Te Hana Motorway has been completed. Three shortlisted consortia will be invited to make submissions to design, build, operate, maintain and finance the Motorway.The preferred bidder is expected to be confirmed early 2026, with early construction work starting in late 2026.This is going to be amazing for Kaipara District (and Northland Region) - a four-l...
June 23, 2025The Importance of Being Earnest
Had a blast attending the Dargaville Little Theatre production of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest last night directed by Adrian Humm. The play is a witty satire of Victorian society, performed by a star-studded cast of talented local actors from this now internationally recognised theatre company. The most amazing colourful costumes were featured as one comes to expect from the close Dargaville Sewing Centre connections. The production also incorporates some great contemporary twis...
June 21, 2025Dargaville Museum 40th anniversary
A great attendance today at the Dargaville Museum 40th anniversary open day celebration. The keen team of volunteers have turned on an excellent day. Here Tim, Ron and Dave demonstrate how to start the Blackstone oil engine on the gum washing machine. This machine was lying in the scrub at the end of Redhill Cemetery Rd for about 70 years near Glinks Gully. It was recovered and expertly restored by George and John Sutich.The open day is running until 3pm with free entry - come on down and check ...
June 15, 2025Good news for Settlement Road
Photo: Councillor Rachael Williams, Deputy Mayor Jonathan Larsen, Councillor Mike Howard and Mayor Craig Jepson outside the Hakaru Hall...
March 26, 2025Baylys Beach boardwalk update
Mayor Craig Jepson, Deputy Mayor Jonathan Larsen, Councillor Gordon Lambeth and Hoskin Civil project manager Darren James...
October 29, 2024Fixing roading legacy issues
Mangawhai and Hakaru have seen substantial growth of small rural lots over recent years.With rates based on land value, and values being driven up by demand there is a reasonable expectation from ratepayers that they will get something more for their money.Council has two mechanisms to collect funds to upgrade roads to compensate for the effects of subdivisions. One is via financial contributions (FCs) under the Resource Management Act. The other is via development contributions (DCs) under the ...
August 31, 2024Fixing Kaipara's Roads
Kaipara has a vast network of roads to maintain covering some 1614 km, with 1140 km of this being unsealed. There are 354 bridges and large culverts, 99km of footpaths, and 32km of cycleways. Roading is also our biggest spend with a budget of about $51m next year alone.The quality of the maintenance of the roads is one of the biggest concerns of local ratepayers and residents so as a Council we are taking action to fix this. Leading change does not come without risk, but things definitely need t...
August 1, 2024Testing the Climate on Rates
Every three years Council consults with the community on it’s Long Term Plan (LTP). The LTP is Council’s ten-year budget and works programme. Due to the demands of the adverse weather events, this year government has allowed Council to produce an ‘LTP lite’ focussing on just the next three years.Following months of work to get costs down, our Council has proposed a programme of works resulting in average consecutive rates increases for the next three years of 15.1, 8.4 and 3.4%. I am sur...
May 15, 2024Mangawhai Shared Path
Pedestrian and cyclist safety has long been neglected on Molesworth Drive between the Village and the Heads. I lobbied the Council to prioritise improvements in this area.The Mangawhai Shared Path project attracted considerable funding from the Central Government. A footpath and cycle track that enables pedestrians and cyclists to safely walk or cycle from Mangawhai Village to Mangawhai Heads is now being built.This project will be an amazing asset to the local community and is expected to be co...
August 3, 2022Kaiwaka Footpath Improvements
Catching up with "The Mayor of Kaiwaka" Mark Ottaway about getting footpath improvements carried out at Kaiwaka....
June 10, 2022Mangawhai Endowment Lands Account (MELA)
The MELA fund is a $5 million asset resulting from the dissolution of the Mangawhai Harbour Board. When the council was under commission a decision was made to run the fund down. I initiated a policy review to ensure that the fund capital was protected from devaluation via inflation and protected for future generations.This means the proceeds of the fund are available for local community groups to apply for to undertake volunteer initiatives in the local area....
April 10, 2022Kaiwaka Footbridges
After the Kaiwaka Footbridge plan was dropped from Council’s Long Term Plan, I saw an opportunity to lobby the Minister for Regional Economic Development, Shane Jones, on the importance of the footbridges for the safety of the Kaiwaka community.I supported the Council to apply for provincial growth funding for this project to meet a very short Cabinet approval deadline. Secured $750,000 provincial growth funding from the Government to ensure this project could finally come to fruition.The brid...
March 26, 2022Mangawhai Beach School Crossing
The access to the Mangawhai Beach School didn’t have a proper crossing for children to get to and from school safely.With a growing school roll, the Principal contacted me and I worked within Council to cut through internal bureaucracy and advocate for this important health and safety facility to be installed as a matter of urgency.The school now has a proper, safe crossing point on Insley Street....
February 1, 2022Mangawhai Shared Path and Kaiwaka Footbridges Funding Announcement
With Hon. Shane Jones at Mangawhai Shared Path and Kaiwaka Footbridges funding announcement....
July 25, 2020Browns Road Bike Park
Mangawhai Tracks Charitable Trust (‘The Trackies’) had been trying for a number of years to get traction on developing a walking and mountain bike park on Council land in Brown’s Road.I helped to push the project internally within Council, which resulted in Council granting approval to have the Browns Road land used as a reserve.The Trackies are now in the process of building tracks, with the intention of further developing the reserve into a mountain bike park.This is a much-needed recrea...
July 20, 2020Kaiwaka Fitness Trail Opening
Opening of the Kaiwaka Fitness Trail with Sheryl Anderson, Mark Ottaway and Phil Keene....
June 1, 2020 Posts 1-21 of 21 | Page
